Sophie Lewincamp

Through her role as a lecturer in Paper Conservation at the Centre for Cultural Materials, Sophie Lewincamp has worked to promote the conservation profession to the wider community and mentored students and recent graduates in all specialisations of the University Of Melbourne conservation course. Since February 2012, Sophie has been coordinating all aspects of the RSL LifeCare War Museum project which has provided opportunities for nearly fifty UoM students and graduates in the cataloguing and conservation of the War Museum collection at the RSL LifeCare complex in Narrabeen, NSW. LifeCare Narrabeen is one of the largest retirement accommodation and aged care facilities in Australia with over 5000 residents. The Museum collection has been developed through donations from past and present residents, covering the period from WWI to present day conflicts and peace-keeping missions.

The project also involves the team working closely with the residents who are very committed to the Museum and interested in working with and learning from the students. The establishment of the connections between the different generations (students and residents) has been an unexpected key outcome of the on-going project. The students and graduates have benefitted greatly from this unique learning experience. Sophie is continuing to manage this project on top of her teaching commitments and the redevelopment of the Museum is progressing well.

Sophie’s award was accepted by Marcelle Scott.

Sophie’s award was framed by Framing Matters, Canberra


Outstanding Service to the AICCM: Carole Best

Carole has been AICCM website editor (voluntary position) for over a year. Carole accepted the role at short notice when the previous editor was unable to continue. She enthusiastically embraced the responsibility and immediately set about invigorating the website with news and events, greatly increasing AICCM’s appeal to the membership. Working closely with Michelle Berry (Secretariat) Carole has played a pivotal role in upgrading the website ensuring that AICCM is best placed to address the ongoing changes in the internet. She has also raised AICCM profile on social media, developing a real presence on Facebook for the organisation.

Carole’s appreciation and understanding of the conservation profession and considerable skills as a website designer and artist have been pivotal in producing the current AICCM website, which is not only of great service to the conservation profession but is increasingly the very first point of contact for anyone with an interest in conservation. Carole has enthusiastically contributed countless hours of voluntary work, enlisting the aid of friends and other professionals, and has always displayed great professionalism with a healthy dose of good humour making her a pleasure to work with.

Carole’s award was framed by Sophie Brown Conservation Framing, Sydney

Past recipients

As you can see, our records are incomplete. If you can help fill in the blanks we would love to hear from you.